Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-04-22
DR.. TALMAGE HOME AGAIN,
After Preaching and Lecturing in Fifteen
Different Cities.

Different Cities.
Cordially Greeted by a Vast Congregation
The Eminent Divine Delivers a Sermon
from the Second Chapter of Revelations
ga Live Church,"
BROOKLYN, April 3.-The Rev. 7 De
Witt Talmage, ID. D., has returned from
the West, after an absence OF nearly three
! weeks, in which he preached and lectured
in fifteen cities to immense throngs. A
vast congregation was present at the
Tabernacle this morning and joined with
fine effect in singing the hymn which be-
gins:
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
Does his successive journeys run.
DIR. Talmage's subject was IA Live
Church." and his text Revelations ii. 8, 8:
"Unto the angel of the church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the first n the
last, which was dead and is alive. I know
thy works, and tribulation, and poverty,
Blu thou art RICH"
Smyrna was a great city of the a%ncients,
bounded on three sides by mountains. 1t
was the central emporium of the Levantine
trade. In that prosperous and brilliant
city there was q Christian Church estab-
lished. After it had existed for a while it
was rocked down by an earthquake. 1t
was rebuilt. Then it was consumed by a
c~onfagration that swept over the entire city.
That church went through fire, and trouble,
and disaster, but kept on to great spiritual
prosperity. The fact was that church had
the grace of God, an ever active principle:
Had it been otherwise, all the grandeur Of
ings would only have been the ornamento OF
6oafh-tho uor1onSa of q coffin the n1umeS
of a hearse.
1t may be profitable to consider what are
the elements of q live church.
l remark, in the first place, that one char
acteristic of such a church is p%anctualityln
meeting its engagements. All ecclesias-
tical institutions nave financial relations.
and they ought to meet their obligations
Just as certainly as men meet their obliga-
tions at the bank. When a church of God
is not as faithful in its promises as the
Bank of England it ceases to be a church
of God. 1t ought to be understood that
prayers cannot paint a church, and prayers
cannot pay tho winters coal bill, and
prayers cannot meet TIE insurance. and
that, while prayers can do a thousand
things, there are a thousand things that
prayers cannot do. Prayer for any par
ticular church will never reach Heaven
high unless it goes down pocket deep. In
my church at the west there was a man OF
comfortable means, who used to pray for
his pastor in such elongated style that he
became a nuisance to the prayer meeting;
asking God, in q prayer. that was almost
without c~easing, that the pastor might be
blessed in his basket and in his store.
while the fact was he never paid anything.
If we pray for the advancement of the
church and do not out of our means on
tribute to its Advancement, our prayer is
only mockery. Let the church of God
then meet its obligations on the outside,
and let the members of the congregation
meet the obligations on the inside, and the
church will be financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be
punctuality in the attendance on the house
of the Lord. If the service begins at 1890
in the morning, the regular congregation of
q live church will not come at 10:45. If the
service is to begin at 1880 in the evening,
the regular congregation of a live church
will not come at 7:45. In some churches I
have noticed the people are always tardy.
There are some people who are always late.
They were born too late, and the probable
ity is they will die too late. The rustling
of dresses up the aisle, and the slamming
of doors, and the treading Of heavy feet, is
poor inspiration for minister. 1t requires
SAo@o "us.iacVioA IL d Pasto1 uiuo W pro-
coed with the preliminary exercises of the
church when half Of the audience
seated are looking around to see the other
half come in. Such difference of attend
ance upon the house of God may be q
difference of time pieces, but the live
church Of which I am speaking ought to go
by railroad time, and that is pretty we'll
understood in all our communities. There
is n hymn that ought tobe sung in q great
many Christian families on Sabbath morn
ing: "Early, my God. without delay, I
haste to seek thy place."
Another characteristic of o live church is
the fact that all the people participate in
the exercise. A stranger can tell by the
way the first tune starts whether there is
any life there. A church that does not
sing is a dead church. 1t is awful to find
a cold drizzle of music coming down from
the organ loft while all the people beneath
sit in silence. When o tune wanders
around. lonely and unbefriended, and is
finally lost amid the arches because the
people do not join in it. there is not much
melody unto the Lord. In Heaven they
all sing, though some there cannot sing
half as we'll as others. The Methodist
Church has sung all around the world and
gone from conquest to conquest, among
other things, because it is q singing church;
and any Christian Church organization
that with enthusiasm performs this part of
it's duty will go on from triumph to
triumph. A Church of God that can sing
can do anything that ought to be done.
We go forth into this holy wal with the
Bible in one hand and a hymn book in the
other. Oh! ye who used to sing the praises
Of the Lord and have got out Of the habit,
take your harps down from the willows. !
am glad to know that, as a church, we are
making advancement in this respect
When l came to be your pastor we had IN
excellent choir in the little chapel, and
they sang very sweetly to us Sabbath by
Sabbath; but ever and anon there was
trouble, for you know that the choirs in
the United States are the Waterloos where
the great battles go on. One Sunday thew
will sing like angels, and the next Sunday
they will be mad and will not sing at ali.
We resolved to settle all the difficulties and
have Il skillful man at the organ and one
man to do the work of the precentor; and
now, from Sabbath to Sabbath, the song
comes up like the voice of mighty thunder
ings.
Let those refuse to sing re
Who never knew our God;
But children of the Heavenly King
Should speak their joys abroad.
On the way to triumph that never ends,
and pleasures that never die-sing!
Another Characteristic of a live church is
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